E-40 was born Earl Stevenson November 15, 1967 in the town of Vallejo, California. Along with his family members, The Click (B-Legit, D-Shot, and Suga T), he has gained much reputation and recognition for the Bay Area of California in hip hop music. The 'E' in his nickname comes from his first initial, and the '40' comes from 40 ounce bottles of malt liquor, a.k.a '40s'.
After a talent show one day at Grambling State University in New Orleans, LA, where E40 attended college, he and his cousin B-Legit decided to try to jump start a career in rap. They moved back to their hometown of Vallejo, CA and hooked up with E40's brother, B-Legit and formed a group called the Most Valuable Players. Along with help from E-40's uncle, who was a gospel singer, they were able to release an independent album. Seeing what her family accomplished, E-40's sister, Suga T, gained interest in joining the group. Realizing the value of having a female rapper in the group, 40 and his cohorts obliged and Suga T was added to the group, forming a group called The Click.
The group went on to release their first album, Down and Dirty, which was a moderate success. After this, E-40 left the group behind and went on to release an independent solo debut entitled "Federal". With Federal, 40 gained a substantial amount of immediately local recognition. His next hit was "The Mail Man" featuring the ever popular song, Captain Save a Ho.
E-40 went on to release over 10 CDs, including those with The Click, and appeared on a number of soundtracks and did features on many albums for other rappers. E-40 has an extremely unique sound, which proved to gain him popularity with fans as well as other rap stars. E-40 has done tracks with many notorious rap stars including Ice Cube, Too $hort, and Tupac Shakur.
After completing his current deal with Jive Records, E-40 signed with Lil Jon's BME Recordings and Warner Bros. Records. E-40 then reduced the single "Tell Me When To Go" along with Keek Da Sneak, which turned out to be an extremely popular nationwide hit. This hit scored E40 appearances on BET's 106 and Park, and MTV's Direct Effect. E-40 also appeared on an MTV feature titled "My Block: The Bay" which gained even more fame for E-40 and the Bay Area Hyphy Movement.
After these appearances, 40 went on to release "My Ghetto Report Card" which debuted at #1 on the Billboard Hip Hop and Rap Album chart on March 14, 2006. This album was co-released through Sick Wid It, BME Recordings, and Warner Brothers Records, and was procuded by Lil Jon, Rick Rock, and E-40's son, Droop-E. After this album, 40 went on to release a single called "U And Dat" in April 2006 which featured rapper T-Pain. Is this a sign of another big album soon to come? We sure hope so.
With over 10 releases, E-40 may seem to have his hands tied up with the rap game, but somehow he still finds time for other business ventures. He has opened 10 Fatburger restaurants in the San Francisco Bay area, along with NFL player Chester McGlockton. 40 has also gone the route of authoring his own book, which will be published/released under Warner Books, and is called "E-40's Book of Slang". Other business ventures of 40's worth mentioning are his liquor line called Cloud 9, and a now-closed nightbclub which was opened in the San Jose area called the Ambassador's Lounge.
